1. Industrial Field of Utilization
The present invention relates generally to a technology for controlling tones sounded from a sound output device such as a loudspeaker in accordance with operations by a user or physiological conditions of a user.
2. Prior Art
Music therapy has been attracting attention in wide-ranging medical care fields such as the rehabilitation for maintaining and recovering mental and physical functions, the treatment of diseases, the prevention of dementia, and the caring of handicapped children. In music therapy, methods are employed in which music is used to mitigate the anxiety and pain of patients and the behavior in music performance by patients is observed by experts called music therapists to evaluate (or diagnose) patient's mental and physical functions.
However, in music therapy, the mental and physical functions of patients are evaluated in accordance with the results of observation of the patient's behavior in music performance. In contrast to the conventional medical approaches based on the evaluation of patient's mental and physical functions by use of quantitative data such as heart rate and blood pressure, the music therapy is difficult to objectively grasp patient's mental and physical functions.